England's most disadvantaged areas are expected to gain extra funding as the Government announces today how much money local health services will receive in the next three years.

Health Secretary John Reid will announce the allocations for primary care trusts (PCTs), promising record levels of investment.

While all areas will see their funding increase, the poorest and most disadvantaged parts of the country will get more money.

The cash is intended to help local health providers deliver on pledges in the NHS Improvement Plan and Public Health White Paper.

The money will help deliver faster operations, drive down waiting times, provide quicker access to GP and recruit more staff, according to the Department of Health.

The Treasury has already announced that £135 billion will be given to PCTs over three years.

PCTs will be expected to use the cash to meet plans set out in the Public Health White Paper, including improved sexual health services, providing school nurses and health trainers to boost patients' well-being.

In November Dr Reid announced that England's most disadvantaged towns and cities would be the first to benefit from funding for new initiatives set out in the White Paper.

He said that 88 PCTs covering the most health-deprived populations would pilot a range of measures set out in the 200-page White Paper.

The PCTs, identified using data on deprivation, cancer and heart disease deaths and life expectancy, cover large areas of the Midlands, North West and North-east, including the Prime Minister's Sedgefield constituency.

They also include the most disadvantaged parts of London, such as Tower Hamlets, Haringey and Lambeth, which have large ethnic minority populations.

The money being allocated will also help reduce waiting times for diagnostic procedures, such as MRI scans, and tackle the nation's biggest killers - cancer and heart disease.

There has been growing criticism in recent months over so-called "hidden waits" for diagnostic tests which prolong a patient's journey to treatment.

In the NHS Improvement Plan, Dr Reid announced that by 2008 no-one would have to wait more than 18 weeks from GP referral to hospital treatment, including any diagnostic tests.

In December the Liberal Democrats said that some patients were still waiting more than a year for crucial diagnostic tests in the NHS.

Among the primary care trusts expected to gain extra cash are Middlesbrough, North Tees, Langbaurgh, Hartlepool and Sedgefield. They were named in November as five of 88 PCTs covering the most health-deprived populations that would be the first to benefit.